


Just Another Mission

by rinthegreat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Horror Elements, Lovebug, M/M, Post Season 6, Violence, mentions of attempted non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 17:03:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinthegreat/pseuds/rinthegreat
Summary: “That’s because he was bitten by a Szerelem,” Coran states, walking into Blue. “A bug that induces intense feelings of obsession.” He nods to Pidge. “Though, as you say, it is temporary.”---Lovebug AU with a twist





	Just Another Mission

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this prior to season 7's release but due to my surgery, laptop fiasco, and Life(TM) I wasn't able to complete it until recently. This is my take on the lovebug AU but with a twist. Since I wrote most of it so long ago, there are definitely non-canon elements from season 7 (namely Shiro's arm and the wolf's name). 
> 
> **Please note there are minor warnings in the tags.** These warnings include _horror elements_ , _mentions of attempted non-con_ , and _violence_. Keep those in mind before proceeding. If you would like to skip the mentions of non-con, please skip the section from "hickeys" to the section break. The violence and horror elements cannot be skipped, but mild spoilers for them is listed in the end notes.

Ever since they get Shiro back – for real this time – Keith refuses to leave his side. Things move so quickly that Lance can't tell when he even made the decision to come back. They go from being a team of six people living in a castle ship to being eight people, a cow, a wolf, and four mice traveling across the universe in five lions.

Lance had finally come to terms with the gaping hole that had been left behind by Keith when he'd joined the Blade of Marmora. He'd accepted that he'd been the only one who needed all seven of them together to feel complete.

But just when he'd grown accustomed to his place in a team of six, Keith had suddenly returned with his Galra mother and an Altean in tow. Things had escalated so quickly that Lance hadn't had a chance to think more than _wow he looks bigger_ before Keith was just _there_ again. Like he'd never left.

The thing is: Lance is _happy_ to have Keith back. He'd missed him more than he'll ever admit to anyone, even Hunk. No more worrying about things he can't see or influence. No more gripping the edge of his console every time Kolivan calls, dreading what he has to say. Now he knows where Keith is; back with him.

Them. Back with them.

They plan to travel to Earth, but without the castle they have no way to make wormholes. So rather than go straight home, they bounce around from Coalition planet to Coalition planet while Coran hunts for parts to make a new ship.

Somewhere along the way, they leave Romelle and Keith's mother behind, reducing the group back to seven. Lance refuses to let go of Kaltenecker though, and Keith shows no sign of relinquishing his new wolf either.

Things get more and more cramped as the scavenger hunt continues. They gather parts for the new ship while still living in their lions. Coran seems to be putting it together in small chunks inside Yellow and Black simultaneously.

Every planet they stop at has some problem for Voltron to solve. It makes each stop last even longer, testing all their patience. This particular planet has some kind of Bigfoot problem.

Well, it's not exactly Bigfoot. What it sounds like is that there's some beast who has made a home near a mining area and has killed several of the natives. And, of course, whatever they're mining is the _exact_ material Coran needs for the next phase in his build of their new castle ship.

“This is the perfect chance,” Coran chatters excitedly over the comms. He's in Blue right now, leaning over Allura's shoulder so close to the camera that only half his face is on the screen. There's a rapid clicking while Coran looks away from the camera before Lance's screen changes from a view of the jungle outside to a diagram of the mines. “The amount of nucreaou on the planet Treldor is amazing!” Coran continues. “There's a large vein right here,” an area near the center glows, “which is more than enough to build the entire wormhole generator for the castle ship!” Coran stands upright, his full face appearing in the small view screen. His mustache bounces as he beams, clearly pleased with himself.

“The Treldorians have agreed to help us harvest the necreaou and supply us with a transport vessel to carry it back to Olkarion,” Allura informs them. “In return, we need to eradicate the beast which has taken over the mines.”

“So...” Hunk speaks up, his tired face appearing in the screen. “We have to fight a scary beast if we want to finish our ship? That sounds about right.”

“I'm afraid the beast isn't our only concern,” Coran apologizes. “The Treldorians haven't broken orbit in over three hundred years. They still have the ships, but it's going to take a significant effort to get them in tip-top shape again. We will need to assist in that effort as well.”

Allura nods. “Very well. Keith? Shiro?”

When the inside of the black lion appears on Lance's screen, Keith is sitting in the pilot's seat – his new usual spot – with Shiro hovering behind him. Just like before, when Keith had appeared with a wolf and bad news about Lotor, Lance is struck by just how _big_ he is. Before, the only thing Lance really had going for him had been his height.

Now he doesn't even have that.

“Yes, princess.” It's Shiro who speaks. He still looks tired – all of them do – but he's more _there_ than he has been in weeks, despite them not having replaced his old Galra arm yet. “Pidge,” he addresses “Go with Coran and Allura to see what we can do to help with repairing the ships. Hunk, Lance, you're with me and Keith.”

Keith's jaw is set, as if he's clenching his teeth as tight as he can, but he doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to; Lance can all but read it in his posture. After all, this is Shiro's first mission since...

Lance's fingers tighten around Red's controls.

“Good,” Allura responds smoothly. If she's surprised that Shiro's taking an active role again, she doesn't say anything about it. “Pidge and Coran, we will head into Crote. Shiro, Hunk, Keith, and Lance: the mine is in the jungle outside the city.”

Shiro nods. “We should all rendezvous in our respective locations in ten doboshes,” he decides.

And with that, the comms go dead.

Lance sighs, leaning back in his seat. He doesn't want to go on this mission at all. It's not that he doesn't want to spend time with Keith and Shiro, it's that...he doesn't want to spend time with Keith and Shiro.

Whatever the two of them went through after Keith launched himself into that wormhole clearly did a number on both of them. They've kept mostly to themselves since coming back, communicating with each other in creepily silent looks rather than words. The rest of the team was told what Lance is sure is the bare minimum of what really happened.

Shiro had been a clone for a while, but now he isn't. Or he still kinda is? It's complicated.

Oh, and Keith had been gone for two years which is why he's so goddamn big now. He managed to find his mom and they adopted a giant teleporting space wolf while only a half day or something passed for everyone else.

It's a lot to keep up with, so Lance doesn't exactly blame them for keeping their distance from the rest of the team.

But it does make his anxieties seem childish in comparison.

Red growls in his mind, displeasure coursing clearly across their bond, and Lance cracks a soft smile. She likes him, and that's something she makes abundantly clear every time Lance starts thinking of himself as a sixth – now seventh again – wheel.

At first, he'd missed Blue something fierce. She'd been his first lion after all. But over time, he's grown used to flying Red. She's fast, quick to respond to his every thought, and it's fun as hell. She's his girl now.

As if hearing his thoughts, Kaltenecker lets out a loud moo right by his ear. Lance snorts, patting her nose. “You're my girl too,” he promises.

\---

Eleven and a half doboshes later finds Lance standing alongside Hunk outside the city of Crote, waiting for Shiro and Keith to join them.

Lance taps his foot impatiently as sweat drops off his hair down into his armor. Treldor is beyond hot and humid. It's like Florida in the middle of summer if Florida somehow had 10% higher humidity.

He likes the heat, but even for him this is ridiculous. He hopes this Bigfoot doesn't put up too much of a fight; the less time they stay on this planet, the better.

“What's taking them so long?” he asks impatiently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. For once, he's not the last one here.

Hunk grants him a look that's almost pity. Almost because he, too, looks like he's seconds from roasting alive behind his helmet. Lance had taken his off, thinking it would be cooler, but judging by the flushed color of Hunk's face it really isn't. “Are you okay with this?” Hunk asks, lowering his voice and leaning in.

Lance tries to keep the irritated scowl he's wearing on his face, but he can't hide the wince at the question. “Yeah,” he says, but even he can hear the squeak in his voice. “Why wouldn't I be?”

Hunk levels him with a look, marred by the beads of sweat trickling down his face. “Lance,” he says, exasperated. He opens his mouth, clearly having more to say, but he doesn't get the chance.

Because at that moment, Keith and Shiro arrive.

They each have a sleek speeder, large enough for two people. “Hunk, Lance,” Shiro greets as if they hadn't showed up three minutes late. Lance frowns at Shiro's right arm. It hadn't been visible in the video feed less than thirty minutes ago, but now it's a sleek black extending past his armor.

“Sweet bikes,” Lance responds, stepping forward. “Where can we get some?”

“We only need two,” Keith replies gruffly. He's not looking at Lance, instead staring ahead into the jungle.

His wolf isn't with him today for some reason, which is a damn shame. Keith seems more like his old self with his wolf; the self that Lance had slowly fallen for back in Keith's stint as the black paladin.

Keith likes to throw sticks for his wolf when he thinks no one is watching. It's cute. Especially because the wolf doesn't seem too interested in fetching them. Instead he portals himself around randomly while Keith pouts.

He'd definitely get pissed if he knew Lance had seen that.

“Helmet on, Lance,” Shiro reminds him gently, resting his hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance jumps at the contact. He tries to brush it off by turning around so it doesn't look like he'd been twitching nervously for no reason. He's not so sure he succeeds.

“But it's so hot,” he argues, refusing to meet Shiro's eyes.

“Use your suit fan,” Shiro recommends. “We're going to split up,” he addresses all three of them. “To help us cover the most area.”

“Great,” Hunk mumbles. “Split the party.”

“There are two paths up the jungle,” Shiro continues, ignoring Hunk's complaints. “Keith, I want you to take Hunk around the west side. Lance and I will go up the east.”

Immediately, Keith's head snaps back to glare at Shiro. “What? No. I'm going with you.” Lance nods, wordlessly agreeing with him. Keith should go with Shiro, and he should go with Hunk. It just makes sense.

“No arguing, Keith.” And damn, if Shiro doesn't sound back to his old self right then. “Lance, hop on, you're with me.”

Lance swallows hard, making eye contact with Hunk. Hunk darts his gaze at Keith then back at Lance before widening his eyes as if to say _I didn't plan this_. Lance shoves on his helmet.

He doesn't want to go with Keith anyway.

Keith's changed ever since he'd left to join the Blade of Marmora, and Lance doesn't mean just his size this time. All that progress they'd made when Lance had first taken his place as the red paladin is gone now. All that joking around, all those soft almost-smiles, the wordless trust they'd developed. All of it is gone. Keith's shown less than zero interest in talking to him after their battle with Lotor; he doesn't even look at Lance if he doesn't have to.

If that doesn't say something about Keith's opinion of him, then nothing does.

No, Lance thinks as he turns towards the other scooter, his real problem is the person who scoots to the back of the seat, leaving the driver's spot open.

He really wishes he could've gone with Hunk.

Lance swallows hard and straddles the speeder, hoping he doesn't look as nervous as he feels. “Take us to the east,” Shiro directs. With one last longing look towards Hunk – climbing on the back of the other speeder behind Keith – Lance takes off.

\---

Shiro had been right about the helmet, even if Lance won't admit it. The moment they hit the jungle, leaves, bugs, and cobwebs smack into Lance's visor so hard they stick. Keith's speeder sounds hot on their heels for the first few feet before the path splits in two. Lance veers to the right, and the other speeder disappears to the left.

After that, the ride is silent aside from the sounds of their own speeders. It's nice because it means Shiro isn't instructing him or correcting him, but it sucks because it leaves Lance completely to his thoughts. Namely: why did Shiro take him instead of Keith?

Maybe he wants a break from Keith. After all, they _have_ been spending all their time together. Lance can't imagine what it's like to have Keith all over him all the time, but he guesses for most people that would probably be incredibly annoying.

He wouldn't mind so much.

Not because...well yes, okay, that too. But Lance is from a big family. He's _used_ to having his siblings and cousins all over him. Out here, he's surrounded by mostly introverted teammates always needing their space. Ironic, considering they finally have all the space they could possibly want. Having Keith up in his space would be a nice change from that. Besides, he can't pretend he hasn't dreamed of Keith wanting to spend time with him.

So, Lance goes back to his question, why _him_? If Shiro's sick of Keith he should've taken Hunk. Hunk is...well, he's someone who hasn't betrayed Shiro. That already makes him a better option. And it also means that there's only one possible conclusion:

Shiro wants to talk.

“Slow down,” Shiro instructs, as if hearing his thoughts. “We're getting close.”

Lance obeys, letting off the throttle so the speeder slows to a crawl. It jolts forward as Shiro jumps off, and Lance stops it completely. He pulls out his Bayard and climbs off the speeder. “Did you hear something?”

“Not sure,” Shiro replies, his back to Lance.

They stand silently, listening, but the only sounds are the breeze rustling the leaves in the upper canopy. Lance forms his Bayard into a sniper and uses the scope to check the trees around them, but he doesn't see anything. “I think we should keep moving,” he says after his second scan of the area.

“Lance.”

When Lance looks at Shiro again, he's standing straight, looking directly at Lance. His gaze pins Lance in place with its intensity. This is the moment.

Lance disengages his Bayard, letting it dissolve back into his suit. He scratches the back of his helmet, even though it doesn't accomplish a damn thing. He doesn't even have an itch. “Ready to move on?” he tries.

“I want to talk to you,” Shiro states plainly.

Score one for Lance.

“You know it wasn't your fault,” Shiro continues. Lance almost laughs. “There's no way you could've known.”

Except that Shiro _had_ tried to tell him. In the void place, he'd called out to Lance _specifically_. He'd given Lance the chance to stop the clone before he could hurt anyone, and Lance hadn't stayed long enough to listen.

He opens his mouth to say just that, but the words don't form. They stay firmly lodged in his throat instead, choking him.

“So please,” Shiro concludes. “Stop avoiding me.”

“I'm not -” Lance protests, but at that moment, Hunk's voice sounds through the comm.

“Lance? Shiro?” He sounds panicked. “We need help.”

Lance immediately forgets the awkward conversation with Shiro in the wake of something happening to his best friend. “Hunk?”

“What's the situation?” Shiro demands, all business.

“I...I dunno,” Hunk stutters. “Keith's down.” A pit of ice forms in Lance's stomach.

“We're on our way.” Shiro doesn't need to speak twice. Lance hops on the speeder, only waiting long enough for Shiro to get on the back before he whips it around and speeds it back in the direction they came from. He moves faster than he should, pushing the speeder at a pace generally considered unsafe.

Shiro doesn’t complain, even when Lance spins the speeder recklessly around the corner and up the west side of the path. He flies so fast that when he finally sees the other speeder and stops, he almost flips over the handlebars. Only Shiro’s ice cold arm around his waist stops him from leaving his seat.

“Hunk!” Lance shouts, leaping off the speeder. He forms his Bayard into a rifle sweeping the area. “Hunk!”

“Lance!” Hunk’s shout meets his ears from the left and Lance spins and races off the path into the jungle, Shiro hot on his heels.

When they reach the other two paladins, Hunk is on the ground with Keith pulled into his lap. Only Hunk is wearing his helmet; Keith's is on the ground next to them.

Lance slides to a stop, dropping to his knees next to his best friend. “What happened?” Shiro asks again as he crouches down next to them.

“He took off his helmet,” Hunk explains. “I think something _bit_ him.”

Oh, shit. That isn't good. This place is a tropical planet, and Lance grew up near the equator on Earth. He knows a little something about bugs in tropical places. Namely: most of them are poisonous.

This is a worst case scenario.

Keith is curled up, face pressed into Hunk's stomach. His fingers are digging into Hunk's arm, squeaking against the armor as they scramble for purchase. Keith survived getting thrown into a wormhole, aging several years by getting too close to a singularity, and missions with the Blade of Marmora. A _bug_ is not going to be what kills him. Not if Lance can help it.

“Keith.” Shiro speaks softly, resting his gloved hand on Keith's arm. “Can you hear me?”

Keith turns, and Lance can't help the gasp that escape his lips. He doesn't look like he's in pain at all. His pupils are blown wide, turning his eyes black, while his mouth is stretched into a wide grin that looks alien on his usually grim – these days – face. “Shiro,” Keith says dreamily. “I'm in love with Hunk.”

\---

The ride back to Crote is uncomfortable to say the least. Keith had refused to let go of Hunk, forcing the yellow paladin to fly the speeder back with Keith pressed flush against his back. Meanwhile on the other speeder, Lance is clutching the controls so tight in his fists that he's mildly worried they're going to snap off.

Shiro is equally stiff behind him, and just like before, they fly back in silence. Lance pulls to a stop the instant they exit the jungle, but his fingers are so still that it _hurts_ to release the handlebars.

Allura, Coran, and Pidge are already there by the time Hunk finally makes it out of the jungle. Keith is wrapped around him like an octopus, looking disgustingly pleased with himself. Lance grits his teeth and looks away.

Allura takes one look at them, then sets her stern gaze on Shiro. “What happened?”

“Something bit Keith,” Shiro explains stiffly. “A bug.”

She purses her lips. “The pod is in Blue.” She turns to Coran and orders, “Find out what this is.” With a nod, Coran heads into the city.

Getting Keith into the pod is...difficult. He refuses to let go of Hunk, turning almost rabid when Shiro tries to physically pry him off. In the end, Allura grows almost three feet in height and throws him in the pod, slamming it shut before he can react.

With Keith taken care of, the four of them turn to Hunk.

“What kind of bug could do that?” Pidge asks, looking absolutely horrified. Keith had been insane. He'd been moon-eyed when he looked at Hunk, but the moment they forced him to let go he'd turned enraged. It had been unnatural, unlike him, and completely separate from the fantasy-Keith Lance used to pretend was in love with him.

As if sensing something wrong, Keith's wolf pops into existence right next to Shiro. He doesn't look phased, as if this is a normal moment, but the wolf whines the moment he sees Keith. Shiro reaches over, absently scratching its head with his gloved hand. “Why did Keith have his helmet off?” he demands.

“He...” Hunk frowns. He glances nervously at the pod. “I told him not to, but he said it was messing with his peripheral vision.” He glances over, making eye contact with Lance before dropping his gaze. “He thought he heard something going towards you two.”

Allura pulls up her data pad, scrolling through Altean text faster than Lance can register. “There _is_ a foreign substance in his system,” she confirms. “But it isn't attacking him.” She glances up at Shiro. “Without the castle, I don’t have the ability to extract it from his system.”

Pidge frowns, jumping into problem-solving mode. “If something was injected into him, then it’s finite. He should be able to work through it in a few days.”

“That’s great,” Hunk agrees, sounding strained. “But Pidge: he would not let me go.”

Shiro nods. “He kept insisting that he was in love with Hunk.”

“That’s because he was bitten by a Szerelem,” Coran states, walking into Blue along with a Treldorian. Lance hasn't quite gotten used to their appearance yet; they look like a human crossed with a bug, bipedal with antennae sticking out of their head and a sheen of slime across their bodies. “A bug that induces intense feelings of obsession.” He nods to Pidge. “Though, as you say, it is temporary.”

“The Szerelem are one of the more harmless species in the jungle,” the Treldorian speaks up. Their mouth clicks rapidly between each word, opening and closing in the opposite direction of a human one. “Their poison should only last three or four quintants. We can provide housing for you to stay in until it passes.”

Three or four quintants.

Lance has to survive almost a full week watching Keith hang all over Hunk. He has to watch the person he...but it doesn't matter, and Keith doesn't want to spend time with him anymore. He'd made that abundantly clear.

He gazes at the pod. Three or four quintants for Lance to selfishly wonder _why Hunk_? He hates himself for it already. Clearly Keith is sick. Clearly Hunk is uncomfortable.

And yet that doesn't stop the sick spike of jealousy already stabbing Lance's stomach as he wishes Keith had clung to him instead.

“Are you the one he witnessed first?”

Lance nearly jumps at the weight on his forearm. The Treldorian is staring up at him imploringly, three fingered hand resting on his armor. “Uh…” he starts, confused as all hell.

“No,” Hunk answers. “That would be me.”

The Treldorian's antennae turn to Hunk before the rest of their body does. When their hand leaves Lance's arm, a layer of slime remains. He stares at it instead of looking at his best friend, sick to his stomach from something other than the slime.

“It is best if you stay with the infected,” the alien says. “They can get quite violent if taken away from the witnessed.”

“Witnessed?” Pidge asks.

“Yes. The first creature witnessed after one becomes infected becomes the object of their obsession.”

Well. That answers Lance's question as to 'why Hunk'.

Not that...not that he couldn't see Keith – or anyone for that matter – falling for Hunk. Hunk's a great guy; the best of them all. Even without some stupid, life ruining bug bite, it makes sense for anyone to fall for him. Lance shouldn't be jealous over him, especially when this is clearly the work of a bug instead of Keith's true feelings.

“I would like to hear more about the housing arrangements,” Allura says, oblivious to Lance's roiling emotions. “Tril, would you mind?”

“Not at all,” the Treldorian replies.

Meeting essentially over, Lance all but sprints out of Blue. He needs to get as far as humanly possible from this nightmare.

He doesn’t make it very far. The moment he hits the ground, he’s stopped by a hand on his arm. “Oh ew, is that slime?”

Hunk.

“You should probably be in there when he wakes up,” Lance insists, still refusing to meet Hunk’s eyes.

Hunk shifts his weight awkwardly. “You know…I…I’m sorry.”

Lance’s eyes finally snap up to his. “Why are you sorry?”

“I...” Hunk chews on his lower lip. “I guess I don't really know. At first I thought it should've been you, but I think it would've been better if this hadn't happened to anyone.”

Lance lets out a shocked laugh. “I already hang all over you, Hunk. You wouldn't have even noticed a difference.”

Hunk frowns. “That's not what I meant and you know it.”

“Hunk, it’s fine. I’m not…mad at you or anything.” He _shouldn’t_ be. Lance is aware he’s being irrational. Would it really be better to have Keith clinging to him, knowing that it’s fake? Or is it better like this; being ignored by Keith until they finally reach Earth and Lance can leave the team in peace?

“I don’t…” Hunk looks nervously over his shoulder before turning back to Lance. “You know I don’t like Keith in that way, right?”

“Of course I know that.” Lance shifts his own weight, staring towards where Red is sitting, waiting for him. He’d been so close to escaping this conversation. “I don't think you wanted it or anything.”

“Definitely not,” Hunk chuckles nervously. “I was really worried too, at first. When that bug bit him he seemed like he was in pain, you know? And when he collapsed against me, I panicked a little.”

“Yeah,” Lance agrees softly. “You sounded panicked.”

“I don't blame you if you don't want to be around it.” Hunk half-reaches out, like he wants to pull Lance in for a hug but restrains himself. “I'm gonna...” He gestures back to Blue.

“Yeah,” Lance repeats. “Yeah, you should go.” His throat is suddenly dry for some reason, and he wants nothing more than to not be around Hunk when the tears inevitably appear.

Hunk shoots him an apologetic smile before racing back to Blue.

The Treldorians may have a place for them to stay while they hunt the beast and Keith heals, but Lance can't bear to be around any of that. He heads towards Red, resigned to sleep in his cot in her instead.

He pats Kaltenecker when he enters, earning a soft moo in response, before heading to his makeshift room and stripping out of his armor. His still-blue armor. He doesn't know why they haven't all changed armor yet. He's clearly not going back to piloting Blue.

If he stays in Voltron now that Keith's back, then he should wear the red armor. And if Keith is just piloting Black while Shiro recovers, then Lance should step back and let Keith return to Red, the way he'd planned to before. Right now Lance is just ridiculous; he's a patchwork paladin who doesn't even match his lion.

Red growls.

“Can it,” he defends tiredly. “Keith's in love with Hunk. I'm allowed to wallow.”

She very clearly disagrees but goes strangely quiet, not arguing for once. Lance isn't sure whether to be pleased or concerned. Before he can decide, a knock sounds outside. He steps into the cockpit as Red pulls up the video screen, displaying the ground around here.

Shiro is there along with Keith's wolf.

“Couldn’t put up your shield to keep them out, could you?” Lance asks aloud. Red’s silence is enough of an answer.

He huffs and opens the door. The video screen cuts out when the door to the cockpit opens, letting them in. “Hunk said you were headed this way,” Shiro tells him. His pitch black arm is gone again, leaving him with a left hand and nothing else. It's odd, but Lance doesn't bring it because that seems rude and he's already been horrible enough for one day.

“You found me.” Lance shrugs, forcing his stance to radiate ‘casual’.

Clearly, Shiro isn’t buying it. “Planning to stay in Red for three days?” he asks, picking up the box containing Killbot Phantasm 1. He makes a show of examining it that Lance doesn’t buy for one second.

Lance scoffs, trying to hide his surprise at Shiro figuring him out so fast. “Who, me? Why would I do something like that?”

Shiro levels him with a look that clearly says _I am not fooled_. “Lance.”

Lance drops all pretense. “Shiro, we already talked. You don’t blame me. Everything’s great. So how about you take Wolfie there and leave me in peace?”

Shiro looks down at the wolf still standing patiently at his side. “His name’s Yorak. Do you want to meet him?”

“Wha-?” Lance asks, jaw dropping open. He doesn't get to finish his question, because upon Shiro's words, the wolf vanishes from existence only to immediately appear again. His front paws rest square against Lance's chest, bowling him over. Lance throws a hand out to catch himself, hitting the console as the full weight of Keith's space wolf falls against him. “Oh my god, you are huge,” he wheezes.

Yorak licks his face.

Shiro chuckles. “I think he likes you.” As if to emphasize Shiro’s words, Yorak’s tail whips back and forth, slamming into the controls behind him. Red grumbles in Lance’s thoughts. He gets the feeling she’s not too fond of wolves.

“Can he...understand English?” Lance asks, watching the wolf’s strangely calm face, as if he’ll speak.

“We’re not sure,” Shiro says, stepping forward. “We think he does in a way. Yorak, let Lance up; you’re crushing him.”

Sure enough, Yorak drops his front paws off Lance’s chest, resting on the ground in front of him. Despite having acted like a dog greeting its long lost owner, the wolf regards Lance with a calm stare. “He really does like you,” Shiro remarks. “He’s normally not this…good with strangers.”

“That’s because he was trained by Keith.” Lance drops his hand to Yorak’s head, scratching behind his ear the way he’d seen Shiro do it earlier.

Shiro snorts, covering it up with a belated clearing of his throat. “I was actually coming to see if you wanted to hunt for the beast with us.”

Lance blinks. “What?”

“Keith and Hunk are in no condition to perform the mission, so Hunk offered to stay and help Coran with the ships. The rest of us were going to continue the hunt for the beast. You should join us.” Shiro gives him a meaningful look. “We could use our sharpshooter.”

Lance's heart stutters. He's always wondered if Shiro had heard him that day when they'd gone to save Slav. Shiro hadn't said anything to him about it, but this is the second time he's used the nickname Lance had invented for himself that day.

At least someone appreciates him.

Red grumbles in his mind. She clearly has had enough of Lance's self-deprecating thoughts for the day. “Alright,” Lance concedes in a whisper. “You appreciate me too.”

“What was that?” Shiro asks.

“I said alright. I'll help you find the Bigfoot”

Shiro nods. “Tomorrow morning then. We'll meet in the same place as today at dawn. Come on, Yorak.” The wolf vanishes from in front of Lance and reappears alongside Shiro as he leaves.

\---

Dawn is impossibly early. By nature it’s as early in the morning as you can get, and Lance has never been a morning person. He hits his alarm clock – because yes he has an alarm clock – and rolls over, determined to get five more minutes. But his need for sleep is interrupted by a wet tongue across his face.

“Aaaagh!” Lance shouts, smacking the air in front of his face as he sits upright.

He pulls the eye mask off, and comes face to face with Yorak, sitting calmly on his bed. As if he hadn’t just licked Lance’s face to wake him up. “How did you – why are you – did you _portal_ in here?” he demands, pointing an accusing finger in the wolf’s face. Red’s responding growl, audible this time, indicates that yes. Yes he had portaled in here.

Lance draws a hand over his face. “Ugh, Shiro sent you here to make sure I’d wake up didn’t he?”

Yorak doesn’t respond.

With a groan, Lance drags himself out of bed. “First, Shiro disappears, throwing us all into different lions – yes, I love you too, Red – then Keith leaves when Shiro gets back, then Keith comes back but he’s _older_ and has a space wolf and a space mom and _now_ he gets bitten by a stupid. Space. Bug.” Lance punctuates each word by snapping on a piece of armor, “And falls in love with Hunk, leaving the rest of us to kill space Bigfoot. This is just perfect,” Lance seethes, slapping his helmet on his head.

He grabs his Bayard, pointing the handle at Yorak, who is lying with his back to Lance, asleep on his bed. “Don’t think being cute gets you out of trouble.” Yorak, for his part, ignores Lance completely.

“And now I’m in here, talking to myself,” Lance grumbles. Red transfers something between amusement and pity, so Lance takes that as his cue to leave. “Don’t portal into Red without her permission,” he tells Yorak before closing the door behind himself.

This time, he's the last to arrive. Back to normal, he supposes. Shiro is already on one of the speeders, taking the front seat this time with Allura standing beside him, frowning at her data pad. Pidge is next to the other speeder, staring dreamily into the jungle as if her mind is still half in bed. Lance knows exactly how that feels.

“Lance, thank you for joining us,” Shiro greets him in a lecturing tone that lets Lance know he’s in trouble for being late. He has the mysterious arm in place again, but no one else is bringing it up, so Lance doesn't bother.

Allura turns off her data pad, tucking it into her armor. Where it goes, Lance doesn’t know. He’s not sure he wants to. “The plan is the same as yesterday’s: we are splitting up and approaching the mine from two directions. Lance, you’ll take Pidge up the path we took yesterday. Allura and I will go up the other side.”

Lance nods, heading to the speeder near where Pidge is swaying. He taps her arm, jerking her back to reality. “You awake?” he asks in a low voice. She just glares.

“Comms stay on,” Shiro continues. “When you find the beast, hit your locator, and the other team will converge on your location. No one goes anywhere alone; this thing has already killed at least ten Treldorians.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Lance agrees, straddling the speeder. Shiro is far too awake for dawn.

“And Lance, Pidge.” Shiro’s voice drops to something more serious, so Lance actually looks over. “No one takes off their helmet.”

Lance swallows hard before nodding.

“Well,” Allura says brightly. “I’ve always wanted to fight a monster like this. It ought to be fun.” The smile on her lips is shaky, unpracticed, so Lance sends a bigger one her way.

“Race you there!” he declares. “Hold on Pidge.” She gets on the speeder, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Lance this isn’t a –“ Shiro calls, but his words are lost to the wind as Lance takes off.

\---

The second trip is less exciting than the first. He and Pidge make it all the way to the mine before Lance thinks to slow down, and they don’t see a single Bigfoot. They leave the speeder by the entrance and scan the area, staying within eyesight and earshot of each other while they search.

“Maybe it’s nocturnal,” Lance suggests when they do their third pass around the hill surrounding the mine entrance.

Pidge shrugs. She's grown more articulate with each passing hour, waking up with the sunlight. “It's possible, but several of the villagers claimed to see it in the daylight.”

“What _is_ this Bigfoot, anyway?” Lance asks, picking up what looks like a leaf between two fingers. It twitches, ten legs appearing, and Lance drops it. This planet has way too many bugs.

“Not exactly a Bigfoot”

“What do you mean?”

“Well our Bigfoot is kinda…humanoid? At least, that’s what the reports all claim. Large, hairy, has human limbs but bigger.”

“And this one?”

“Honestly?” Pidge says. “I think it’s fake. I think the Treldorians have been killing each other off up here and blaming a mysterious beasty. The one report described it like an earth frog, but bigger. They even confirmed it when I showed a picture. But a different Treldorian said it looked more like my picture of an Earth turtle. And, of course, there’s the fact that the killings have been described as ‘sliced to pieces’ but none of the pieces have been found. None of it adds up.”

Lance frowns, tapping his visor with the barrel of his rifle. “Why would they want to kill each other, though?”

“Were you even listening when we first got here?” Pidge asks, exasperated.

Lance shrugs. “Not really.”

“The ore in there, the stuff we need for the castle –“

“Neblum.”

“No, it’s called nucreaou, you really don’t listen do you? Anyway, it’s super valuable. Like ‘the reason they don’t have to leave the planet is because people will fly all the way here just to get it’ valuable,” Pidge insists.

“Riiiight.” Lance draws out the word. “So then what are we supposed to do?”

Pidge lets out a groan of frustration as her data pad returns another negative scan. “All we can do is scan the area, confirm there isn’t anything here, and maybe set up traps to protect the mine.”

A low whine sounds through the air, signaling Shiro and Allura’s arrival. Allura jumps off the speeder smoothly before Shiro brings it to a stop. “Any sign of the beast?” she asks. She looks better than she has since the whole Lotor thing. Bringing her out into the wilderness to hunt for a mythical creature is probably one of the best things they can do to get her back to normal, strange though that sounds.

“Nothing,” Lance announces, waving his scanner to prove it.

“We scanned the region as we rode up,” Shiro informs them, climbing off the speeder. “There are no signs of unknown creatures.”

Lance winces. Scanning the area as they rode up would’ve been a good idea.

“We finished scanning the hill three times,” Pidge declares, “and found nothing. I don’t think the beast exists.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Allura disagrees. She’s standing in front of the mine, frown marring her face.

Lance walks over, setting his data pad on the speeder as he passes it. When he reaches the princess, she’s already reaching out, fingers touching the rock in front of her. She traces them down three deep claw marks, dug into the rock.

“Pidge,” Shiro says, coming alongside them, “check the records for a beast with three claws that can do this.”

Lance stares at the marks. He can’t think of a single Earth creature that could dig that deep into solid rock. Just to test it, he transforms his Bayard into its sword form and tries to scratch the rock as well. It leaves a scuff, but it doesn’t dig in the same way.

“Nothing,” Pidge confirms a moment later. “There are three-toed creatures, but none have claws.”

“Maybe it’s a four-toed creature, but one of the toes got cut off,” Lance suggests.

“Maybe,” Pidge concedes.

He turns to her. “Still think the Treldorians killed each other?”

“Their axes are designed to cut through the rocks to get to the ore. They probably created this to support the myth about there being a beast.”

The sun is high in the sky, but they hadn’t brought any food out with them. Something Lance’s stomach reminds him of when it rumbles loudly. “Lunch then explore?” he suggests hopefully.

Shiro shakes his head. “We want to rule out the jungle before we venture inside. You two scan your half while you head down. Allura and I will check the back side before returning. Tomorrow, we’ll explore the mine.”

Lance groans. He’s _hungry_ , dammit. “If you hurry, you’ll make it back before dinner,” Allura encourages with a sadistic smile.

“Ugh, come on Pidge.”

\---

It takes them another few hours to reach the bottom, because they scan the entire area as they go. As expected, there isn’t a single sign of any beast, Bigfoot or otherwise. All it accomplishes is making Lance and Pidge cranky and exhausted.

“I could eat the Bigfoot at this point,” Lance complains when they exit the jungle and park their speeder.

“I was hoping to work on the electrical systems of the ship,” Pidge grumbles in agreement. “But I’m too hungry to focus.”

“How _are_ the castle designs going?” Lance asks as they walk towards the main building in the capital.

Pidge raises her eyebrows at him. “You haven’t seen them yet?”

“Uh…no?”

“Oh they’re awesome. No more fifty conversions to hook up Killbot. We can just plug right in. VR style.”

Lance whistles. “Nice.”

“Come with me after lunch. I’ll show you.”

He agrees easily, pushing open the door for Pidge to walk through, when he’s greeted with the reminder of why he’d been avoiding leaving Red.

“Hey, guys,” Hunk greets, lifting one arm sheepishly. The other is supporting a majority of Keith’s weight, who is currently glaring at them. He’s not a small guy, so the fact that Hunk is able to hold him so easily is a testament to his strength.

Pidge’s arm snaps forward as she points accusingly at them. “Hunk Garret, is that a hickey?” she accuses.

Hunk drops Keith, slapping his hand to his neck with a flush. “I…kinda gave up on trying to get him to stop.” He shoots Lance an apologetic glance. “He gets violent.”

At that, Lance jerks to attention. “Is he _taking advantage of you_?” he asks darkly. Lance's Best Friend Protection instincts kick in and he glares at Keith. It doesn't matter what complicated feelings he may or may not have for Keith anymore; anyone who tries to hurt Hunk is going to meet the business end of his new sword.

Hunk’s face darkens. “Not anymore.” And actually, now that he’s paying attention, Lance notices that Keith’s sporting a black eye. “This is the compromise.”

Pidge snarls, Bayard forming in her hand. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Pidge,” Hunk protests. Lance forms his sword. “Lance. Seriously, I’m alright.”

“We should knock him out,” Lance mutters to Pidge. “He can spend the rest of his time unconscious.”

“Agreed.”

As if hearing them, Keith slides both feet to the ground smoothly. He pulls out his knife, transforming it into a blade. “Try it, Dropout,” he says, still holding onto Hunk with his other hand.

“Guys?” Hunk asks, nervous. “Please don’t do this. We worked out an arrangement. Seriously.”

“Not a chance, Hunk,” Lance disagrees. Without warning, he charges.

Keith raises his sword, ready to parry. But before Lance can even get there, there’s a pop as something blue appears in front of him. He trips over his feet, drawing to a stop just shy of hitting the wolf. Shit, he’d just tried to attack Keith. Yorak is gonna kill him.

“Good doggie…” Hunk says, and Lance looks down. Yorak _is_ growling, but not at him.

At Keith.

“What is happening?” Allura’s voice booms out around them. She steps between the two sets of paladins, disappointment clear on her features and followed closely by Shiro.

“Keith tried to take advantage of Hunk,” Pidge tells them, still glaring dangerously at the two of them.

Shiro’s eyes widen, his head snapping to look at Keith. “Is this true?” he demands.

“We worked out an agreement,” Hunk argues unconvincingly.

“And what kinda of agreement is it?” Allura asks, turning the full weight of her full displeasure at Hunk and Keith.

Hunk shifts his weight nervously. “He, uh, only touches my hands and face, but I let him…” his face flames, “kiss me and stuff so long as it’s neck or higher.”

Lance’s grip on his sword tightens. He really is going to kill Keith as soon as everyone else gets out of the way.

“Excuse me?” Allura asks, shocked, at the same time Shiro orders, “No.”

Hunk shifts his weight, looking guilty. “Sorry.”

“Don’t you dare apologize,” Pidge growls.

“Hunk,” Shiro addresses him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was this…bad.” Bad isn’t even close to what Lance would call it. “I’ll be staying with you both to make sure he doesn’t go too far. Allura,” he turns to address the rest of them. “You, Lance, and Pidge should explore the mine tomorrow.”

Allura nods curtly. “I’m going to find Coran,” she says, sweeping out of the room.

Keith is still glaring daggers at Lance, venom nearly shooting from his eyes. Lance’s soul is being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, he wants to rip Keith limb from limb for trying anything with Hunk. But on the other, he knows this isn’t Keith. Not really. The Keith he knows might be emotionally constipated and hard to relate to, but he isn’t cruel. He isn’t…this.

Lance wants to pull the venom out of Keith’s blood drop by drop and launch it into space.

“Lance,” Shiro addresses him. “You and Pidge should go eat.”

Lance dissipates his Bayard. “No thanks. I’m not hungry anymore.” He leaves them all behind and heads back to Red.

\---

He can’t sleep.

Lance can’t get over the look on Hunk’s face or the pure hatred in Keith’s eyes. He hates that he still wishes he’d been the one Keith had looked at after he’d been bitten. If he had, then he at least wouldn’t be the one taken advantage of.

Though, Lance thinks as he turns over and punches his pillow, then _he’d_ be taking advantage of _Keith_.

Red rumbles in his mind, the only warning he has before there’s a pop, and Yorak snaps into existence on his bed. Lance grunts at the added weight, and this time Yorak moves off him and lies next to the wall.

“You’re mad at Keith too, huh?” Lance mumbles, rubbing under the wolf’s chin. “Because he’s not really Keith since he got bitten, right?”

Yorak rests his paw against Lance’s side, a comforting weight. He has no idea why Keith’s wolf has decided to follow him around while Keith’s out of commission. He should be following Shiro instead. Then again, Shiro is with Keith and Hunk right now, so maybe it makes sense for Yorak to seek him out.

“Is it stupid that I think I'm still in love with him anyway?”

Yorak doesn’t answer.

\---

Allura sends a message the next morning, saying that they’ll meet at midday instead. Lance takes advantage of that time, using it to sleep in. Yorak hadn’t been there when he’d first woken up, and he isn’t there when Lance wakes up again later.

He gets ready in silence, not even Red’s grumbles breaking his thoughts. She knows what happened yesterday, and she’s locked herself down to parse through her own feelings. Lance is grateful for that. He’d burst out of his skin if he had to handle her anger on top of his own.

Pidge and Allura meet him at the edge of the jungle again. The three of them don’t exchange words, climbing onto their speeders. Allura flies her own, but she follows Lance up the west side rather than going the other direction.

The three scratches are still on the entrance to the mine when they get there. “We need to see if there’s anything in there,” Allura commands when they get off their speeders. “Do not engage unless necessary.”

He nods, leaving his data pad in the speeder. All he needs is his team and his Bayard. “Let’s get this over with.”

The mine is exactly as dark and creepy as Lance had thought it would be. There are abandoned tools scattered near the walls, and the lights aren’t working, forcing them to rely on their helmets’ lights. It's long and winding and cold, and Lance knows it's going to take them an actual eternity to finish exploring it.

Then they reach the first split.

“There are three directions,” Pidge argues. “We’ll never clear the whole mine if we stay together.”

“We stay together as a team,” Allura counters. “The beast is known to pick people off one by one.”

“We don’t even know the beast is real,” Lance points out. They haven’t seen any claw marks aside from the ones on the entrance. He’s starting to agree with Pidge that the miners have been killing each other and fabricated a Bigfoot legend to cover it up.

But Allura is unmoving in her conviction. “We stay together, or we all go back and tell Shiro that we need to wait until we can use the whole team.”

Even the mention of Keith is enough to send Lance into a mental whirlwind. “How many more days?” he asks before he can stop himself.

“I have good news on that front,” Allura says. “Shiro has managed to get Keith to do some training. It seems the venom is working through his system faster because of it.”

Pidge huffs, but neither she nor Lance say anything in response. The sooner they get the real Keith back, the better. “Let’s go right,” he votes. “All rights and then we go from there.”

The other two don’t argue, so they push forward. They search until Pidge’s data pad pings, reminding them that they need to head back to Crote for the day. Just like their search of the jungle the day before, there isn’t a single sign of a beast. No claw marks, no footprints, no bones of dead Treldorians. Nothing.

“We should head back,” Lance says after the alarm rings and Pidge stops to shut off the alarm. Again, the others don't argue.

Exhausted, they tromp back up the mine in the exact direction they’d arrived. It takes less time than it had going down, because at least now they don’t have to stop and scan every three minutes. Regardless, by the time they reach the top, the sun is already setting.

“Well that was a waste of –“

Lance cuts his complaint short at the sound of a growl. He throws out his arm, preventing Allura and Pidge from walking any further.

“Did you guys hear that?” he asks breathlessly.

“Hear what?”

Lance shakes his head, calling his Bayard to his hand. He forms his sniper, flipping the scope up and uses it to scan the trees. He could swear he’d heard –

There.

A dark figure passes between two trees.

“Guys,” Lance whispers. “I think I found the Bigfoot”

A second later, the creature itself appears. “Holy shit,” Pidge breathes.

It’s horrifying.

The creature is undoubtedly the one that the Treldorians had seen. It’s a monstrous mix of a turtle and a frog, if they’d been warped and expanded to a height of six feet. There’s a shell of sorts on its back, clearly visible as the creature stands with its back to the mine. The back of the shell appears to be a super-hardened exoskeleton with bits of meat and hair sticking to the ridges. The curves of the shell disappear into the frog-like back, and black hair sprouts from the connection points.

It hasn’t seen them yet, too busy sniffing at where Lance knows their speeders are. “It’s blocking our exit,” he whispers as quietly as possible. He doesn’t see ears, but that doesn’t mean the creature can’t hear them.

Allura inhales sharply.

With his scope, Lance can see what she can. The creature’s arm had twitched, revealing the long claws which match the scratches they’d seen on the rock. And dangling off one of the claws is a Treldorian antenna, rotten and decomposing. Lance pulls the scope from his eyes, bringing a hand to his mouth as he tries to breathe down his sudden need to vomit.

A soft click has Lance looking over. Pidge has her Bayard formed, ready to go. A glance at Allura reveals that her Bayard is ready too. Lance puts the scope back to his eye, focusing on the beast. If he gets a head shot, they might not need to fight it at all.

Now he just needs a clear view of its head.

Lance steps forward, rock cracking under his foot, and three things happen at once: a bug flies in front of the creature, landing on its neck. The beast turns and stares straight at Lance. And Lance, startled by the view of its face, shoots wide.

“Allura!” Pidge shouts, and the two of them whip past Lance, rushing the creature. The beast opens its mouth, letting out a high pitched scream that causes all the hair on Lance’s arms to stand up. Pidge drops her Bayard, hands coming to cover her ears, but she’s too close to it.

The beast raises its arm. “Pidge!” Lance yells, running forward.

Allura uses her Bayard as a whip, snapping the creature around the neck. Lance transforms his own into his usual rifle and fires shot after shot at the creature. It screams as they burn its skin and claws at its neck, forgetting about Pidge.

Allura shouts as the creature cuts through the form of her Bayard. She falls backwards, carried by her own body weight and slams into the wall of the mine. A few rocks fall around her. “Allura!” Lance shouts. A scream from Pidge draws his attention back.

But the creature isn’t advancing on her this time.

Lance meets its eyes again. They’re pitch black, as if they’re absorbing all the light in the area. The creature swipes at him, and Lance dodges, throwing himself into the wall to his right. He hits hard, jarring his shoulder on impact and lets out a groan.

Pidge flies into his vision, her jet pack activated as she dives onto the creature. It shrieks when her Bayard hits its back. Lance stumbles back a couple steps, the pitch of the scream causing his ears to ring. Allura appears at his side, her Bayard a staff this time, though it’s shaking, almost as if it shorted out. She slams it into the creature’s stomach, and the Bayard backfires, turning into the whip.

It snaps out, slamming into Lance’s visor so hard a crack appears. He topples over backwards.

“Lance!” Allura shouts.

He forces himself upright, but the creature’s too fast. It descends on him before Lance can sit all the way up. “Allura?” he calls nervously. The creature’s claws wrap around his wrist so tight Lance feels the armor crack around it. It leaps over him, keeping its hold on Lance’s arm, and there’s an awful crack.

Lance screams as his shoulder dislocates, his body carried by the creatures momentum back down into the mine before Allura and Pidge can stop him.

  


* * *

  


Keith’s head is fuzzy. The world is hazy around him, a confusing mix of colors that slowly morph into reality. He gets the impression he’s been out of it for a while, but he can’t remember a battle or a hit that would’ve put him out of commission. All he knows is that there’s a warmth at his side that he thinks he might die without, and that he has no idea where he is.

“Shiro?” his mouth forms around the word as if he hasn’t spoken in ages.

Through the haze, he catches a glimpse of Shiro, black arm formed into a javelin aimed at Keith. When he looks down, he sees his luxite sword in one hand and a...hand in his other? Keith's gaze tracks up the arm and meets Hunk's nervous expression.

“Hunk?”

“Hey buddy,” Hunk says, sounding exhausted. “Is that you this time?”

“Why are we holding hands?” Keith asks, though he has no desire to let go. If anything, he wants to grip tighter and let the haze take back over. “What’s happening?”

A heavy weight lands on his shoulder, and Keith looks over to see Shiro smiling at him, equally tired. “It’s good to have you back.”

“Have me back?” The haze wants to take over again, but this time Keith recognizes it as alien and fights it down. He transforms his sword back into a knife. “Why does my head feel fuzzy?”

Hunk and Shiro exchange a look before Shiro answers. “I think maybe you should sit down.” Keith does as instructed and, once it's clear that he's not about to snap and attack them, Shiro's arm transforms out of it's javelin form back to into the black Bayard's handle, which Shiro catches deftly with his left hand.

Shiro explains it, face deadly serious, while Hunk fills in the gaps where necessary.

Keith blinks at them once they finish. “I was bit by a bug…that made me fall in love with Hunk,” he says slowly. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Hunk’s hand twitches in his own, and Keith feels bad. “Not that you wouldn’t be good…uh…boyfriend material,” he stumbles.

Hunk shakes his head. “It’s fine. We know you didn’t mean anything you did.”

At that, Keith flinches. “What did I do?”

“Now isn’t the best time to tell you,” Shiro insists. Keith had aged two years without him being there, dove through a wormhole to rescue him alone, and yet Shiro’s still acting like he’s the same scared little kid who thought Shiro would abandon him.

“I don’t need protecting,” he insists. “I’m keeping the haze at bay. Tell me what it made me do.”

Hunk clears his throat. “You, uh, tried to force yourself on me?”

Keith feels sick. “Shit. Hunk, I –“

“Relax, Keith. You weren’t able to do anything, and I already paid you back for trying.” At Keith’s frown, Hunk gestures. “You have a black eye.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes anyway.

Hunk squeezes his hand reassuringly. “You should apologize to Pidge and Lance too. Especially Lance.”

“Why?” Keith asks, heart thudding. If he’d done something to either of them, he’d never forgive himself.

“They didn’t take what you tried to do so well. You…might’ve tried to fight them.”

“Yorak stopped it,” Shiro assures him. “He’s fond of Lance.” There’s a knowing look on his face, like he knows exactly _why_ Yorak is fond of Lance. Keith chooses to ignore that.

As if summoned by his thoughts alone, Yorak springs into existence right in front of him. He gazes calmly at Keith before laying down at his feet. Keith finally releases Hunk’s hand, fighting against the haze’s desire to grab it again, and lowers it to his wolf’s head. “Thanks,” he murmurs. “Where are Lance and Pidge?” he asks, looking back up at Shiro.

“Out searching for the beast that killed those Treldorians.”

The mission that had gotten Keith into this situation is a vague memory, just on the edge of the haze. He remembers Lance’s nervous stance before they left, the way Keith had refused to look him in the eye for fear of his heart thudding out of his chest. Other than that, he doesn’t remember any of the details Shiro and Hunk had provided.

“So, we’re still trying to kill that thing?”

“Pidge isn’t convinced it exists,” Hunk informs him. “She’s been stopping by to help me and Coran with the castle designs. I think this is technically the third day we’ve tried finding it? First was when you…you know.”

Keith doesn’t want to think about that. “And if it doesn’t exist?”

“We prove it, set traps to make the Treldorians feel better, and help them mine the ore we need,” Shiro answers.

“Should we go help them?”

“No,” Shiro disagrees, wiping his face off with a towel. “The sun is setting. They should be back any minute now.” He hands Keith a second one. “Clean yourself off. You should see the rest of the team.”

Keith is in the middle of wiping off his face when the door bangs open. He looks up to see Pidge supporting a heavily limping Allura. The princess’ Bayard is crackling ominously in her hand, halfway between its staff and whip forms. Coran bursts into the room after them. “Princess!” he shouts.

Shiro and Hunk jump to their feet immediately, followed by a still sluggish Keith. “Are you injured?” Shiro asks sharply.

Pidge passes Allura off to Coran and collapses onto the nearest chair, entire body shaking. “Lance,” she whispers.

Keith jolts at the same time Hunk does. “What about Lance?” Hunk asks. “Where is he?”

“The creature took him,” Allura informs them, voice filled with pain.

Keith’s luxite blade transforms back into a sword, and Yorak stands up at alert. “Where is he?” Keith asks dangerously. The haze dissipates so completely, it’s like it had never been there to start.

“The mine,” Pidge answers. “It took him back down into the mine.”

Keith is already moving, Yorak hot on his heels.

“Keith, where are you going?” Shiro asks, reaching out to grab him. Keith dodges him, making his way towards the door. “You might still be infected.”

He shakes his head. “I’m going to get him back.”

Pidge stands up, legs shaking but expression determined. “I’m coming with you.”

“As am I,” Allura declares, but she lets out a groan before she can stand fully upright and collapses against Coran.

Coran shakes his head. “I’m afraid not, princess. You need to recover.”

“But Lance –“

“Coran’s right,” Shiro tells her. “We’ll get him back. Keith.”

“I’m not staying behind.”

Shiro’s face softens. “Keep your helmet on,” is all he says.

Keith nods sharply. He looks at Yorak, who is staring at him, waiting for a command. “Find him.” In a blink, Yorak disappears.

 

* * *

  


Lance has never been in more pain in his entire life. His shoulder is screaming at him, and his knee had twisted when the creature had dragged him down the mine. He doesn’t know if it’s broken, also dislocated, or just tweaked, but he doesn’t care. What matters is that he can’t put weight on it.

Right now, it’s an effort to even stay conscious.

The creature had seemed intelligent in a way when Lance had made eye contact with it, but he still has his Bayard and all his armor, including his helmet.

“Guys?” Lance whispers, staring at the spider web of cracks across his visor. His comm stays silent. “Pidge? Allura? Are you there?”

Nothing.

Lance groans and turns over, only to come face to face with the creature.

He lets out a yelp and backs away as far as he can, but his shoulder and knee protest before he can scoot more than a few inches. He turns his visor back to the creature, the headlight still on. Its eyes are closed as it clutches a rope that Lance follows to where it's tied around his non-twisted ankle. Oh god.

How had he gotten himself into this mess?

He hears a familiar pop, and moments later there’s a heavy weight on his chest. Lance wheezes, waving his good arm uselessly until Yorak steps off him. He licks Lance’s visor, leaving a streak across the front.

“Yorak,” Lance heaves. “Oh thank god.” Keith’s magic space wolf had found him. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes. “Go find Shiro,” he instructs in a whisper. “Tell him to get the others.”

Yorak nuzzles him, but his foot brushes Lance’s bad knee, and Lance whimpers, actual tears falling from the pain. “Oh fuck me. Quiznack, damn, shit.” Lance squeezes his eyes shut, and when he opens them Yorak is gone.

\---

An eternity passes without seeing Yorak or Shiro, so Lance makes plans to escape. The creature is asleep, and it’s only holding Lance with a rope. He can handle this; he's gotten out of worse, after all. Lance transforms his Bayard into the Altean great sword, thanking his lucky stars that he’d managed to unlock something quieter than a gun.

The rope is child’s play. Lance cuts through it in a few seconds. The real problem is that he has to escape with a leg that can’t hold his weight and an arm that he can’t even move.

He rolls on his side and uses his good limbs to drag himself forward, but it’s slow going. He only makes it a few feet before the blood flowing through his damaged limbs makes them throb in a way that has him wishing he’d never left Earth in the first place.

When he looks around the room to gauge his progress, he’s met with the sight of bones. Treldorian bones.

Lance drops his head to the floor. Looks like he found the missing bodies. If he's not careful, his own bones are going to end up in that pile next. With fresh determination, he starts forward again, inch by painful inch.

Pop.

Yorak appears in front of his face before he moves. He stares down at Lance, tail twitching minutely before a second pop sounds, and he’s gone again.

It takes three more appearances for Lance to figure out what’s happening. Yorak is leading Shiro down here. Probably popping between them. That knowledge is the only thing that keeps Lance moving. If he can get out of this cavern, then Shiro can get him out of here without waking the creature. They'll make an escape without a fight. It's a brilliant plan.

The fourth appearance is when things go wrong.

Yorak pops into existence right in front of Lance, but instead of landing on the ground, he lands on a pile of bones. They crack under his weight, crashing over each other onto the floor, several of them hitting Lance as they topple.

Lance hears a growl behind him, and he doesn’t have to look to know the creature is awake. There’s a slithering, as if the creature is trying to drag him back by the rope.

At least Lance had had the foresight to cut it.

Once the creature figures that out, it lets out a howl that has Yorak’s ears pressed flat against his head. A weight wraps around his ankle, dragging Lance backwards. He reaches for Yorak, not sure what the wolf can do that Shiro can’t, but it doesn’t stop him from trying.

His knee catches on a rock, and Lance lets out a strangled shout.

Yorak growls and leaps over Lance with a pop, and the weight vanishes from around his ankle. When Lance rolls over, Yorak is on the creature, trying in vain to rip its throat. The creature swipes, and Yorak dodges by popping out of its range and attacking its shelled back.

“Lance!”

Footsteps echo against the walls of the cavern. A moment later green and red fly past him before yellow blocks his vision. Lance looks up, his best friend’s face appearing in front of him. “Hunk?”

“I got you buddy,” Hunk assures him. He tries to help Lance up, but Lance lets out a yelp.

The creature shrieks in response, and before Lance knows what’s happening, the creature has leapt over the other paladins. Claws are on his helmet, catching on the cracks as the creature scratches at him. It’s pushed off almost immediately, and Shiro’s black armor blocks Lance’s view of it.

Hunk helps him upright more gently, letting Lance take survey of the scene around him. The creature is desperate in its attempt to get back to him, ignoring the cuts and burns that Keith, Pidge, and Yorak are dealing it.

When it gets too close, Shiro lifts his jet black arm. It transforms somehow into a javelin as Shiro guards him. It’s…horrifying and terrible. Lance looks away, pain and nausea overwhelming.

“We need to get you out of here,” Hunk insists. “They can hold it off.”

“No.” Maybe it’s the pain speaking, but now that Hunk's here, Lance thinks he might finally understand what's happening. He should've known the moment he saw that bug in his scope. Lance fumbles against the ground blindly until Hunk finally hands him his Bayard. “It won’t stop.”

_They can get quite violent if taken away from the witnessed._

They need to take it out before the creature can claim any more lives. And, Lance decides, since he was the witnessed, he should be the one to put it down.

He transforms his Bayard into the sniper again, forcing the pain out of his mind.

“Shiro!” Hunk shouts the warning. Shiro turns around and ducks as Lance aims. The creature is still staring at him, meeting his gaze through the scope.

Lance shoots.

The creature lets out a howl as Lance’s shot goes directly into its eye. It’s thrown off enough that Keith is able to get his sword under its neck. Ink black spills out, and the creature collapses over, unmoving.

The adrenaline leaves Lance in a rush. “Hunk,” he mutters, falling back against his friend’s chest. “I hope you have that healing pod ready.”

Unconsciousness, when it comes, is a relief.

 

* * *

  


Lance is in bad shape when they get him back to the pod. Hunk has to peel the armor off his skin, but bits of it around his wrist and ankle are crushed against Lance so tight, Keith's surprised it didn't fuse with his skin. Coran takes one look at the battered Lance in the pod before he grabs the armor and leaves Blue, tears threatening to escape.

Keith doesn't blame him.

Pidge and Shiro go back to the mine after the sun rises and return with the corpse of the beast to provide as evidence for the Treldorians. Both Keith and Hunk stay behind.

Keith sits in front of the pod, glaring at Lance's unconscious form as if he could speed up the healing process with just a look while Hunk paces behind him.

Yorak had disappeared in the morning, presumably to protect Shiro, but he pops into existence some time after midday. He takes one look at Keith before settling at his feet, staring at Lance. Shiro hadn’t been lying when he'd said Yorak had become fond of Lance.

“He's been in there for a while,” Hunk panics, not for the first time. “Do you think it's been too long?”

“Allura said the pod is slower without the castle,” Keith reminds him. He's trying not to lose his patience at Hunk. After all, Hunk had put up with him for almost three days while Keith had…

He slams his fist against his leg, ignoring Hunk's twitch out of the corner of his eye. Sorry is never going to cut it when it comes to Hunk. Keith is going to be trying to make these last few days up to Hunk for the rest of his life.

“Keith,” Hunk said, dropping to his knees alongside him. “Lance knows you weren't yourself. He'll forgive you.”

“He thinks I hate him, doesn't he?” Keith asks, eyes never leaving the pod.

“Not…” Hunk's denial gets lost when Keith turns and looks at him. “Yes,” he admits. “I think…” Hunk looks at Lance almost apologetically, as if he's betraying Lance by even saying this. “I think he blames himself for you leaving.”

“I didn't leave because of him,” Keith insists.

Hunk shrugs. “I'm not the one you need to convince of that.”

Keith scratches behind Yorak's eat a little harder than absolutely necessary. The wolf responds my flicking his head out of reach and snapping at Keith's fingers as if to show what will happen if Keith doesn't cut it out. He can't help it though; he needs something to do with his hands. After he twists his finger just a little too tight in Yorak's fur, the wolf finally disappears and reappears near Hunk instead. Keith can't say he exactly blames him.

After what feels like an eternity, the pod finally clicks, opening upwards. Because it's crammed into Blue, no one needs to catch Lance when he comes out, but Keith stands up regardless.

Lance's eyes open slowly, crystals disappearing with each blink, and Keith pretends he's not watching them painfully closely. Lance frowns, reality clearly taking a moment to return before he sits up with a groan. Keith leans down to help, but Hunk reaches him first, supporting Lance from his back as he pulls himself upright.

“Creature?” Lance asks.

“Dead,” Hunk confirms. “Shiro and Pidge took evidence of its death to the Treldorians.”

Lance nods, blinking around the room. It's cramped with the knickknacks Allura brought from the castle, but Keith feels too exposed standing where he is. He tries to hide but backs into a pile, knocking Allura's treasures all over the floor.

Lance's gaze, which he'd been trying to avoid, snaps over to him.

Their eyes widen in unison, but Keith can't bring himself to look away. Lance breaks contact first.

“I...just remembered I have to go help with those ships!” Hunk declares, standing up too fast to be natural. He and Lance exchange looks that Keith can't see through Hunk's body before Hunk turns. The expression he has when he looks at Keith is unintelligible, but he nods before leaving.

And then...nothing.

Dead silence.

Keith taps his fingers nervously against his leg as the silence grows around them. It's more awkward than before, back when Lance had declared them rivals and issued ridiculous challenges every time they'd been in the same room. Things had changed when Keith had temporarily taken Shiro's role; he and Lance had joked around together, supported each other, and hell they'd practically been friends. It isn't fair that Keith had finally had what he'd wanted, but the only way to keep the team whole had been to leave.

Selfishly, he wants to go back to how they were.

“So,” Lance breaks the silence eventually, drawing Keith's attention back into the room. He's still sitting in the pod, fingers picking at the edge of it while he looks down. “Thanks for saving me.”

Keith blinks. “Oh, uh, don't mention it.”

Lance's jaw sets, and Keith's red flag warning immediately goes off. He'd said something wrong, but he doesn't know what. “How are you feeling?” he tries, hoping to soothe the tension.

Lance shrugs, but he doesn't appear any less tense. “Leg's not broken anymore.”

“That's...good,” Keith replies lamely.

Lance snorts.

Silence falls between them again. Maybe Keith should leave and let Lance recover in peace. But his legs don't move and his mind doesn't force them. Instead he stays firmly planted where he is, searching for a topic.

“So does it feel weird to be in Blue?” he asks at the exact same time Lance says, “You don't have to hang around if you want.”

Keith startles. “What?” But Lance is frowning, finally looking at him. “What?” Keith repeats.

“You want Red back that badly?” Lance asks softly. So softly Keith's sure he heard him wrong at first. But Lance still has that unhappy frown on his face, and Keith hates it. He hates it. He wants Lance, his right hand man back again. Hell, he'll even take annoying rival Lance over...this.

“I don't want Red back.”

“But Shiro's the black paladin, even if you've been flying her.”

“So?”

“So, don't you miss being a paladin?”

It's a loaded question. Of course Keith misses being a paladin. The six of them had been his family when he'd thought he had none left. They're closer to him than any Blade had ever come close to being, but that had never been the point, had it?

Or maybe, that had been the only point.

“Red's your lion,” Keith says instead, settling on the safe answer.

Lance, however, doesn't seem to think it's safe. He pulls himself upright, legs shaking from being in the pod so long. He sways as he steps out, pointing an accusing finger at Keith when Keith tries to walk over to help him. “That's bullshit you know. She _misses_ you.”

“I'm not the red paladin anymore.”

“So you want Black back then?”

“No!” Keith shouts. “I don't want anything _back_!” He doesn't even know why he's so frustrated right now. He has no right to shout at Lance, not when he'd apparently gotten in a fight with him over how he'd been treating Hunk. But Keith doesn't even know who he _is_ anymore. Every time he thinks he's found his purpose, he gets tugged in another direction, and he's _sick_ of it.

“Then why'd you come back, huh?” Lance demands, stepping forward. His finger presses sharply against Keith's chest, which just makes Keith rise to the bait.

“To warn you about Lotor, obviously!”

“We were doing fine without you!” Lance yells, voice meeting Keith's in volume.

Bile rises in Keith's throat, but what comes out of his mouth is nothing but anger. “Fine! Then maybe next time I _won't_ tell you when you're being manipulated by a bloodthirsty emperor!”

“I hope you won't!” Lance yells, and this time, Keith sees them. A glint in the corner of Lance's eye that grows until water drops over his lower lid, spilling onto his cheek. “I hope you don't come back at all next time!” Lance shouts, voice wobbly.

All the anger drains out of Keith immediately. He stands frozen as Lance pushes his finger against Keith's chest once, twice, three times before it flattens against him. All he can do is stare while the tears fall openly down Lance's face.

Lance is crying in front of him.

“Stop looking at me,” Lance declares, but if there's anger in his voice it's hidden under the thickness of his words.

Keith isn't the fastest at picking up social cues; he never has been. But his mind is working overtime trying to solve the mystery as to why Lance is crying, and he's falling painfully flat.

“Why are you crying?” he asks eventually, idiotically.

Lance snorts, but that doesn't stop the tears. “Because I hate you,” he declares.

Keith recoils. “You hate me?”

“No!” Lance shouts, energy renewed. “Of course I don't hate you!”

“Then why...”

“Isn't it obvious?” Lance responds, as if it should be. But to Keith, there's nothing obvious about any of this.

So he shakes his head. “Is this about Hunk?”

Lance's face darkens. “No,” he bites. “But you'll pay for that.” Privately, Keith agrees. He deserves whatever he has coming for what he did.

“Then what?” Keith asks.

“You really don't get it, do you?” Lance asks. For now, the tears seem to have calmed, though his voice is no less shaky. “You left, Keith. You left and we...” He bites his lip and looks away.

He stays silent for too long, trying to puzzle it out.

“How about we drop this,” Lance decides. “And go back to pretending nothing happened.”

Slowly, painfully slowly, the pieces slide in place. “You missed me,” he realizes.

“Why would I miss you?” Lance asks in a way that Keith knows means he's absolutely right. Warmth blooms in his chest. He'd thought of the whole team while he'd been gone, but he'd thought of Shiro and Lance most of all. To know that Lance might've been back here thinking of him too is...

“I missed you,” Keith admits. His stomach drops dangerously, and he impulsively wants to run, but he forces his feet to remain rooted in place as Lance turns around and looks back at him, face red.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

This time the flavor of awkward that falls over them is completely different than before. It's no less uncomfortable, but this time Keith is almost giddy with it. Lance had missed him. _Lance_ had missed _him_.

There's a knock on the door. “Hey are you guys in there?” Pidge's voice drifts through. “Hunk said you might be talking, but it's been a while so I want to make sure you didn't kill each other.”

“We're fine,” Lance calls out, before meeting Keith's eyes and wordlessly asking with them _we are fine, right?_

Keith hopes his response is just as articulate.

Pidge pushes in, rushing to hug Lance around the waist while at the same time punching Keith in the gut. He flinches, unprepared for the attack, but he supposes he deserves that one too. “Don't scare us like that,” she demands, face buried in Lance's chest. “And don't...just don't attract any more obsessive creatures. That thing was creepy and I'm pretty sure it would've used your bones as toothpicks.”

“Gee, thanks Pidge,” Lance remarks. He makes eye contact with Keith before rolling them dramatically. A smile tugs at Keith's lips.

“And you.” Keith gets jabbed in the stomach. Pidge is glaring at him, one arm still wrapped protectively around Lance. “Don't take your helmet off on alien planets. Especially one with weird bugs! What if that one had been poisonous instead?”

“Then I would've died.”

“Exactly!” Pidge throws her arms up. “Leave your helmet on, moron.” She looks between them. “Now if you're both done being idiots, you need to come help us finish making these space crafts flyable.”

There's no reason for them to turn the offer down, so the three of them exit Blue with their helmets all firmly in place. “You're seriously lucky it was Hunk, you know,” Pidge states matter-of-factly. Apparently now that all is forgiven, she has no qualms bringing it up. “Imagine if it had been Allura or Coran or even Lance.”

“Hey!” Lance protests. “Why am I _even_?”

Keith misses her response because he can't fight the blush climbing up his neck. Of all the paladins, Lance would've been the best/worst to become obsessed with. After all, Keith already feels half obsessed with him without any influence. How much worse would it have been if a bug had amplified that? He doesn't even want to imagine.

He doesn't realize he's fallen behind until Lance's voice brings him from his thoughts. “Keith?”

Keith looks up and finds Pidge gone, leaving the two of them alone again. A spark of courage winds its way into his stomach and before he can stop himself he asks, “Do you want to hang out sometime?”

Lance cocks his head. “Are we not hanging out right now?” he asks slowly.

The confidence fades a little, but Keith soldiers on. “I meant maybe we could...uh...do an activity together?”

Lance stares at him for an embarassingly long time before snorting. “Do an activity?”

Right. Smooth, Keith. Very smooth. “Have dinner or something?” he tries. “Just the two of us?” Now his heart is hammering in his ears so loudly he's sure Lance can see it.

But Lance has somehow managed to turn a deep red that matches the shade of his new lion. “Oh,” he replies.

“Nevermind,” Keith backpedals, voice pitched a couple octaves too high. “Forget about it.” He makes to walk past Lance and avoid the whole interaction, but he's stopped with a hand on his wrist. When he looks back, Lance is looking somewhere off to his left, but that blush hasn't faded.

“I'd like that,” he agrees.

Keith opens his mouth to follow up with something like _cool_ or maybe a clever _when works_ but he's interrupted by Pidge reappearing. “Keith! Lance! Seriously what is taking so long!”

Lance recovers first. “Nothing! We're not killing each other!” He releases Keith's arm and rushes off towards Pidge, halting when Keith isn't immediately behind him before turning back. “Keith?” he asks. “You coming?”

Keith looks at him, thinking of _doing an activity_ together then up at Pidge, impatiently tapping her foot. He'd missed this, really he had. And for the first time since coming back he finally feels like he's at _home_. “Yeah,” he agrees. “I am.”

 

**Author's Note:**

>  **Minor spoilers**  
>  Mentions of attempted non-con: Keith attempts to force himself on the person he saw after being bitten but got a black eye and was stopped  
> Horror elements: a monster is terrorizing mine workers, or so they claim.  
> Violence: Lance is attacked and sustains incredibly painful but non-life-threatening injuries
> 
> **End Notes**  
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